Everything about dance music is cyclical: from the loops that drive the dancefloor to the ever-changing trends themselves. And as the hype and commercial spotlight surrounding dubstep has died down, the scene is left in the most exciting position it’s been in since its initial crossover explosion in 2009.

The attention seekers have long since left the building. The men with dollar-signed eyeballs have moved on to plunder the next big thing. What’s left is a solid scene of devoted creatives and dedicated fans that were passionate about dubstep long before the hype spiralled and will remain so. As when drum & bass endured its first backlash in the late 90s, dubstep has gone back to its roots and the boys and girls making it more room to breathe and take the genre into exciting new creative realms… Just as they were before the hype ignited.

‘This Is Dubstep 2014’ perfectly captures this unique moment. A much deeper, darker, underground portrait of the genre… This isn’t about the brash brodown, it’s not about hair-raising, bowel-busting drops, it’s not about screaming sonic mid-range savagery. This is about stone cold unrelenting sub-soaked grooves that roll with industrial strength. This is about heaving hypnotic sound design and meditative messiness that can only be found in deep dub dynamics. This is about the foundation vibes and raw roots that inspired a generation of producers over a decade ago.

From Flux Pavilion’s majestic euphoria and slippery synth charms on ‘Gold Love’ through to the reality abandoning groove of Kahn’s remix of Ishan Sound’s ‘Namkha’, ‘This Is Dubstep 2014’ reminds us of what made the genre so special in the first place…

Hipsters might have burnt their Joker albums when they grew their last disco beard. Producers from other genres aren’t so quick to drop into a cheeky half-time dubstep breakdown mid track. But to us here at This Is Dubstep HQ, this is the best thing that’s happened to the scene in a long time.

Galvanised with the GetDarker stamp of approval – bastions of the finest underground dubstep for over 10 years – the scene is in the best place it’s been for a long, long time. This year promises some of the most exciting, boundary-bashing, creative productions the genre has spawned in years.

Released April 15th, ‘Mind Controller’ is currently daytime play listed on Kiss FM. The remixes by Cutline and Shock One have received over 650k and 210k Youtube plays respectively and DJ support includes the likes of Diplo, Caspa and Borgorre.

Over the past six months Ayah Marar has released singles on Ministry of Sound and Hospital Records, collaborated with Camo & Krooked and Yogias well as performing at V, Isle of Wight and Lounge on the Farm. Having previously worked with Toddla T,Paul Epworth and Calvin Harris, it’s not surprising she is now been dubbed the ‘The Queen of UK Bass’.??

‘Mind Controller’ will be released on her very own Hussle Girl imprint, and with remixes from dubstep’s new boys Cutline, Shock One, LV andThunderskank& Trafix, it shows Ayah is fast becoming a star in her own right. ‘Mind Controller’ is the tangible result of Ayah’s toils over the past few years, her collaboration with Yogi (the producer of Wretch 32’s ‘Traktor’) last summer bore the powerful ‘Follow U’.

At the end of 2011, Ayah supported Example on his UK tour, was the only unsigned act to appear on the main stage at UKF’s Alexandra Palace event, toured with Camo & Krooked across Europe, and was declared Woman of the Year by Xfm’s Eddy Temple Morris. ??

First we had a series of dubstepbreaks refixes and remakes that featured the likes of Bar 9, Datsik, Benga and Caspa, and then early last year he dropped the MASSIVE ‘Revamped’ album on U&A to universal critical acclaim, and instigated a total Beatport takeover in doing so. Releases followed on Excision’s ‘Rottun Recordings’, where he continued to mess with the formula and take dubstep into the breaks arena and back again, and now, in one of his most ambitious projects to date, he has dropped a peerless 10-track album of top quality bass music in the ‘Shockland’ album that’s out this week.

The music of ‘Shockland’ is genre-free, but it’s all united by fearsome bass, charging percussion, broken beats and the omnipresence of an awesome 70-piece orchestra. The tracks contained within were written for the game Motorstorm Apocalypse for the PS3 (which was released a couple of months back to great acclaim) in collaboration with Oscar-winning classical / soundtrack composer Klaus Badelt, whose work you will be familiar with if you’ve watched Pirates of The Caribbean or Gladiator.
Far from being a pure dancefloor album, as was Revamped, this is a much more complex beast and something to immerse yourself in – a world of moody, epic orchestration, with dark turns, emotive swells & savage drops. It’s soundtrack music first & foremost, but in creating these extended versions with more than half an eye on the dancefloor, Elite Force has succeeded in taking this widescreen sound straight onto the big systems. Dubstep, downtempo, breakbeat and even drum & bass are all covered on ‘Shockland’.

Meanwhile you can check out Elite Force live over the coming months with a full list of shows here

Having passed the landmark half century in releases for Dub Police it’s time to celebrate and what better way to do so then to hand the reigns over to label head Caspa for the big 50!

Following the release of the anthemic ‘Back For The First Time’ last summer on Sub Soldiers – which was vocalled by Mr Hudson as ‘Love Never Dies’ and the brutal ‘Neck Snappah’ earlier this year, Caspa returns with the huge ‘Fulham 2 Waterloo’.

Driven by a hard 4×4 kick and galloping snares, the rhythm is overlaid with the snap of the half step snare providing an impactful percussive counterpoint that flips between house and dubstep. With the tough dancefloor foundations laid, it is the sharp, rave-inflected lead hook that provides an addictive rallying cry for club audiences everywhere.

Having first been aired by Annie Mac on Radio 1 back in February, it has been getting heavy club support from Atrak, Breakage, Mista Jam, Annie Mac, Zinc and Emalkay to name a few and with forthcoming rubdowns from Roska and Emalkay Fulham 2 Waterloo is set to storm the summer soundsystem airwaves.

As the man behind Dub Police and affiliated labels Storming Productions and Sub Soldiers, and an irrefutably top class producer in his own right, Caspa’s influence on the scene is profound. His continuing musical evolution and willingness to champion new talent has marked him out as an international

Fulham 2 Waterloo

Bang Bang

ambassador for dubstep as he continues to spread some of the most exciting sounds to come out of the UK in years.

Fresh back from Coachella Caspa now hits the road with an epic list of heavyweight forthcoming tour dates including Glastonbury where he will provide another outing of his’ Dubs, Decks and Visual FX’ multi sensory assault, followed onwards by Global Gathering and Creamfields amongst a massive run of forthcoming festivals and worldwide shows that take him to every corner of the globe, not to mention a 14 date tour throughout the USA in August which will be hitting some major venues alongside Digitalism.

Touring is just the tip of the Iceberg, Caspa still finds time to host a bi-monthly night at the world famous Fabric and not content with running 3 labels, producing dancefloor bomb after dancefloor bomb and the acclaimed album ‘Everybody’s Talking, Nobody’s Listening’, his remix skills are in higher demand than ever, remixing for the likes of Katy B, Buraka Som Sistema, Deadmau5, Miike Snow, Swedish House Mafia, Depeche Mode, Kid Sister to name just a few.

Caspa is working with a host of exciting guest vocalists and collaborators on his forthcoming artist album with full details to be revealed in the not too distant future- stay up-to-date with everything Caspa related with the new official Caspa iPhone application featuring news, music, videos, gig details, photos and much, much more! HERE